Improvement in cotton-gin feeders



T. C. CRAVEN.

coTToNuN FEEDER.

Patented Apr125, 1876.

(fnl 19m/02 5 6mm ILPETERS. FHOTGLITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS (LCRAVEN, OF HUDSON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND FREEMAN GOONS, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON-GIN `FEEDERS.

, Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176.601, dated April 25, 1876; application filed December 20, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS C, GRAVEN, of Hudson, in the county of Columbia and State ot' New York, have invented an Improvement in Cotton-Gin Feeders, of which the following is a specification:

In Letters Patent No. 146,877, granted for a cotton-feeder for cotton-gine, a cylinder is used to even the cotton and allow only a certain amount to be carried along to the cotton-gin. In this case the evener-cylinder is provided with teeth or-pins that are retracted by an eccentric portion ofthe shaft upon which the cylinder revolves; but, in order to regulate the amount of cotton passing along between the belt and the cylinder, the entire cylinder and its bearings are made adjustable in vertical slides. This construction involves considerable expense, and it is difficult to adjust the cylinder to vary the quantity of cotton that is fed along.

I have improved upon the aforesaid device by placing the cylinder in stationary bearings at a distance from the belt sufficient to allow the maximum quantity of cotton to pass between the lower side of the cylinder and the belt, and I employ an eccentric shaft that is adjustable so as to project the retractile teeth more or less toward the belt, and thereby lessen the space for the cotton to any desired extent, and thus keep the cotton back more or less uponY the feeding-belt, and regulate the quantity passing to the gin.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a vertical crosssection of the feeding' devices, and Fig. 2 is a section longitudinally .of the shaft of the evener-cylinder.

The belt a is upon the rollers b b, one of which is revolved at a regular speed to move the belt along. This belt may be made with slats, with or without vertical pins upon them. The evener-cylinder c is made with hollow journals d, revolving in fixed bearings in the frame m, and a pulley,f, receives a belt or other device for revolving the cylinder at a regular speed. The shaft e passes at its ends through the hollow journals d, and its middle portion is eccentric or crank shaped, and receives the eyes at the ends of the pills t, that pass through holes in the evener-cylindcr c. There is an arm, r, firmly attached at the end of this shaft e, and the said arm is provided with a clamp or set-screw, to secure the arm to the frame, and hold the shaft h'rmly in any position to which it maybe turned.

By this construction the eccentric or cranked portion of the shaft can be placed inany required position by partially rotatingl such shaft, and, as aconsequence of so doing, the distance that the evener-teeth project at the under side of the cylinder, contiguous to the belt a, will be varied, and more or less cotton will pass along upon the belt a, and bc delivered to the cotton-gin hopper in the proper quantity.

I claim as my invention- The eVener-cylinder revolving in stationary bearings, and provided with an eccentric shaft and teeth or pins i, in combination with the feeding-apron a, and the arm r upon the shaft e, whereby the distance between the teeth or pins and the apron is adjusted, as set forth.

Signed by mc this 27th day ot' October,

THOMAS O. GRAVEN. Witnesses:

SAM NATnANs, J ULIUs L. BROWN. 

